


And Everything Nice

by Kasuchi



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M, Female Friendship, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-31
Updated: 2014-03-31
Packaged: 2018-01-17 15:54:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1393561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kasuchi/pseuds/Kasuchi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>"Is there something going on between you and Jake?"</em> When Amy starts to suspect that her best friend, Kylie, and Jake might be a viable option, she feels unsettled for reasons she doesn't want to explore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Everything Nice

**Author's Note:**

> I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge **sadesmae** and her story, because this one has a pretty similar core premise. I think we started our stories around the same time, but (clearly) you finished yours first. To [quote Andy Samberg](https://soundcloud.com/the-nerdist/andy-samberg): "People are gonna have the same ideas, there's only this one world to be inspired with ideas from." (1:00:20)
> 
> Spoilers for 1x22. First section takes place somewhere between 1x10 "Thanksgiving" and 1x13 "The Bet", the rest have their timeskips hat-tipped in the section. There's a big jump in the middle. 
> 
> This story is dedicated to Laura, Lauren, and Z, my real-life friends who, combined, became Kylie.

**what I really, really want**

Jake met Kylie by accident. 

Kylie dragged Amy out, insisting that Amy never had any fun and needed to loosen up. Amy had protested halfheartedly, but even she had to admit the recent dry spell had been going on too long. Kylie had picked her dress -- pointedly not one Amy owned -- and handed Amy a tube of lipstick and ordered her to put it on. Amy had rolled her eyes but complied. 

They'd gone to some smoky, edge-of-hipster bar in Greenpoint, the back a wide, wooden patio with a taco truck parked permanently there, and a dance floor around the slightly raised corner for the DJ. Kylie and she had pregamed like it was still college, and Amy had already been feeling loose when she walked in, steady in her stiletto heels and enjoying the feel of her hair around her bare shoulders. The crowd was loud and exuberant, and for once she soaked in the energy and relaxed. Kylie pushed through the crowd and handed her something in a highball glass, bright green and sweet, that they knocked back in a few gulps. Together, they pushed into the crush of people dancing, making their way towards the middle of the dance floor, where they danced together, laughing at each other, until cute guys came up and placed hands on their waists and hips.

The crowd surged and Amy got separated from Kylie, but after a few songs with the brick wall of a man behind her, his knee between her legs, hips snug against hers, she kissed him on the cheek and spun away, the crowd swallowing her until she managed to wind her way to the edge, fanning her face with one hand. She pulled out her phone from the tiny purse at her wrist and scrolled through her messages as she walked out onto the patio. 

"Amy!" She looked up and there was Kylie, waving her over to where some guy, his back turned to them, was chatting with her. She could still feel the bass from the dancefloor thumping in the reclaimed wood of the deck.

"I lost you there!" Amy said, laughing, running a hand through her mussed hair. "What happened to that guy?"

"Oh, he got fresh so I shoved him away," Kylie said, waving it off. "That was when I ran into this guy. He's a cop, like you!" 

"C'mon, Kylie, there's like sixty thousand cops in New York. You're gonna run into some who are off-duty sometimes." 

Kylie rolled her eyes and lit a cigarette, letting Amy bum a drag the way they always had done. "But this one's a detective! In Brooklyn."

Amy had a sudden, sinking feeling. "What's his name, again?" she asked quietly. 

"That's the funniest thing -- he's Jake, just like your partner." 

Amy felt every muscle in her body tense up for a second before she forced herself to relax. "Jake," she said loudly, and sure enough the guy in the plaid button-down and dark wash jeans turned around, and there was Jake, all goofy smiles -- though his expression faltered when he saw what she was wearing. 

"Heeey, Santiago, what's up? I just met your friend Kylie." 

"Kylie, this is my partner, Jake Peralta," Amy said flatly. "He was just leaving."

"What? No! Jake, ignore her. It's great to meet you. She never lets me meet her coworkers." 

"I know, right? She never lets me meet her friends, either, and I would just so love to meet her friends." Jake grinned at Amy over Kylie's shoulder. 

Amy felt herself scowling. 

"She never mentioned how cute you are, either," Kylie said, expression turning sly. Amy recognized that look. 

She grabbed his arm and pulled him a few feet away, giving Kylie a significant look over her shoulder. (Kylie shrugged and pulled out her phone.) "Jake, what are you doing here?"

"First, if you wanted to get me alone, you just had to ask." He smirked when her scowl deepened, then shrugged loosely. "Me and some friends from the Academy decided to meet for drinks and catch up."

"Really. And where are your friends exactly?" 

He reached out and gently pushed her shoulders, rotating her 30° to the left, where a group of young men around Jake's age were standing in a circle and cracking jokes. 

"Oooh, those are your friends?" Kylie suddenly reappeared at Amy's elbow. She stubbed out her cigarette under her foot. "You gonna introduce us or what?"

"'Or what'," Amy muttered. She'd already been burned before by Jake's pranks and antics. 

"Yeah, sure, c'mon." He laid a hand on Kylie's back and shot Santiago a triumphant look before ushering them both into the loose circle of guys. Kylie immediately went into flirtation mode, while Amy stayed friendly but a little distant, unnerved by Jake not pulling some kind of fast one on her. 

The tall redhead to her left asked her about her police academy days, and they traded stories about push ups and fitness evals, comparing instructors. The others overheard them and joined in, sharing stories about themselves but mostly about Jake, who apparently had been the youngest of them and terribly driven to prove himself. 

Kylie cooed at him and Jake casually put an arm around her waist and assured her that he had managed just fine, but if she wanted to make it better he wasn't going to say no. Kylie laughed and pushed at his shoulder. Amy rolled her eyes, but she was smiling, still relaxed. Mike, the tall redhead, and she apparently had a few friends in common, and they chatted pleasantly, the conversational group growing and shrinking as the others weaved in and out, grabbing drinks or sharing in-jokes. 

Somewhere around 2:30, Amy suddenly felt unsteady and looked around, realizing that Kylie was nowhere to be seen. She pulled out her phone.

_headed home with this cutie! Will text tomorrow!!!_

Amy felt a wave of something like horror wash over her, because as far as she knew, Kylie hadn't been further than a foot from Jake upon finding him, and her best friend hooking up with her partner could only lead to bad things, unspeakable things. 

"Whoa, Santiago, you okay? There's bushes in the back if you need to puke and rally." 

She spun a bit too fast, rocking unsteadily in her stilettos. He set his hands firmly on her shoulders until she regained her balance. 

"You're still here?" She blurted out, bracing her hands on his chest for a moment. They pulled back at the same time, and Jake gave her a puzzled look.

"Yeah...? Obviously. I couldn't let my partner go home by herself." 

She ignored the innuendo. "I thought....you and Kylie..." 

He laughed out loud at that. "She left with Mike like a half hour ago." 

"The redhead?"

"Yes, the ginger." He glanced at his phone. "You want another drink?" 

"No, thanks. If Kylie left, that's usually my sign that I should go, too." She shifted her weight. "Nothing good usually happens after that."

"Is that the name of your secret sex tape?" 

She rolled her eyes. "Night, Jake." She turned to leave, but he fell into step beside her. "What are you doing? You're not coming back to my place." 

"Whoa, you and your doilies are safe from the likes of me. I'm taking the G, too." He waved to his friends, who saluted their bottles at him. The two of them wove their way through the dancehall crowd, Jake at one point pressing his hand into the small of her back to not lose her. 

They ran into the G station just as the train was pulling away. "Damn," she said, then sighed. She and Peralta sat side by side on the wooden bench under the black and white striped board. 

"Man, this is the worst train." 

"It is legendary in its badness," Jake agreed. 

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, the distant whoosh of traffic overhead and the murmuring of scattered pairs along the platform the only sound. 

"Kylie seems nice," Jake offered.

"We've known each other since freshman year."

"So she's got all the dirt." He grinned. "Guess I should get to know her better." 

She rolled her eyes. "You can _try_."

"Challenge accepted." 

"That wasn't--"

"Too late!" He beamed at her,the ankle of his right foot resting on his left knee. "How's that Burkhead robbery going?"

"Okay, I guess." They compared notes on their open cases until the train came, then had a whispered debate if the guy in the corner was the same guy on one of the WANTED posters in the briefing room. Amy stood as the train pulled into Fulton St. 

"Thanks for keeping me company on the way home, Peralta." 

"It's too much trouble training a new partner," he replied blythely. "Get home safe, Santiago." 

She waved and stepped through the double doors, onto the platform, past the turnstiles and up the stairs, across the street and up the 3 flights to her apartment. She stripped off the shoes and the dress, tossing them aside until she collapsed in her bed, tiny clutch landing haphazardly on her nightstand. 

Twenty minutes later, her phone chimed its text message tone. 

_Can I have Kylie's number? --Jake_

She laughed and reached out, thumbs typing out a quick message before she silenced her phone for the night.

_You wish, Peralta._

**forget my past, better make it fast**

"Did I tell you her last serious boyfriend was a firefighter?"

"No! You're kidding." 

"Nope." Kylie giggled, which made Amy roll her eyes, even though her back was currently to them. "He was so earnest, it was like she was dating a human dalmatian." 

Amy sighed. "You know I can hear you, right?" She stood at the bar, trying to catch the bartender's eye, fingers tapping on the bar top. 

"Counting on it!" Kylie laughed again. "Admit it, you loved how he just panted after you."

"Ooh, nice," Jake commented, slipping an arm around Kylie's waist. Kylie beamed up at him. 

Amy turned back to the bar, rolling her eyes. This time, Jake had bumped into them, while Kylie and Amy had been catching up after not seeing each other for about a month. When his date had stood him up -- complete with text message saying she was canceling to wash her hair -- Kylie had suggested Jake join them, despite Amy's attempts to do the silent-communication thing with her. Which was how Amy had ended up standing at the bar trying to catch the bartender's eye in order to buy the round. 

The bartender finally stood across from her and Amy rattled off their drinks -- beer for Jake, house red for Kylie, whiskey sour for her. When she returned, Kylie and Jake were bickering over which of Amy's last five dates was the worst. 

"I'm still going with magic guy," Kylie stated authoritatively, reaching for the wine glass.

"Do you both really have to do this?" Amy grumbled, taking a long sip of her whiskey sour in the hopes it would take the edge off this entire situation. 

"Yup!" They chimed together.

"Great," Amy said flatly, drinking half her glass in one draw. 

Jake and Kylie looked at each other and Amy wanted to shout _Just kiss already, god!_ but poked at the maraschino cherry with her tiny cocktail straws instead. 

"Did I tell you about the time I dated a trapeze artist?" Jake asked.

Kylie shook her head. "Did she make you do the thing?"

"Yeah, and it was _super_ scary. Like, you're up all high and there's a net but you're flying through the air." He shuddered. 

"Worst date ever?"

"What, no. It was amazing. She could bend in ways I didn't think humans could."

"Gross." "Awesome." Amy and Kylie said at the same time. 

Jake beamed. "Does Amy tell you about our cases?"

"Only when they go to trial. Technically I'm a journalist, so she watches what she says around me." 

"What." He leaned back and crossed his arms, glaring at his partner. "And you never told me?" 

"It's no secret I enjoy watching you put your foot in your mouth." Amy shot him a superior look over her glass. 

"Santiago, if you wanted to watch me contort myself, all you had to do was ask me to come over." 

"Keep dreaming, Peralta." 

He pressed a hand to his chest. "So hurtful. Kylie, can you believe her?" 

"It's not her fault," Kylie cooed sympathetically, rubbing his shoulder. "It's all those brothers of hers. They ruined her for normal people." 

"Well, the best case was this super gruesome murder where the guy strung up his victims with fishing line." 

Kylie gasped, and Amy hid a smile behind a hand. "That's disgusting. Tell me more."

Jake regaled her with stories about some of their older, goriest cases, with Amy snarkily correcting him on details he exaggerated or simply made up. 

The fourth time she did this, Jake shot her a flat look. "Can't you let me impress her just a little bit?" 

"Nope. She's my best friend. A girl's gotta look out." Amy sipped on her drink, having switched to white wine in the last round, and smirked as Jake sighed and shook his head. 

Later that night, after they'd parted ways with Jake and climbed into a green taxi, Kylie opting to crash at Amy's place rather than hoof it back to Hamilton Heights, Amy asked the question that had been humming in the back of her mind all night. 

"What do you think of him?" She was on her back, arms folded on her abdomen, looking at the ceiling with half-lidded eyes. Beside her, Kylie was curled up on her side, face scrubbed clean of makeup and wearing a borrowed set of pajamas. 

"Same thing I thought last time," she said, voice sleepy and soft. "He doesn't seem half so bad as you made him sound." 

"You should try working with him," Amy replied dryly. 

"I thought you liked being his partner, especially after he made you go on that fake date." 

Amy felt herself smile in spite of herself. "Yeah, I do. He's not as bad as he used to be." 

"See," Kylie said, somehow sounding both distant and superior at the same time. "Even you think he's all right." 

"I guess I do," Amy replied softly, but Kylie was already snoring.

**get your act together, we could be just fine**

Kylie walked into Shaw's looking fresh and fabulous, even though it was almost nine and the whole team was three-quarters of the way to drunky. She spotted Amy and Teddy almost immediately, coming up to their little round table. 

"Hey guys!" She beamed, sliding into a chair across from them. "What're we celebrating?"

"Another good week," Amy said, touching her glass to the one Teddy held. "We put away the owner of an illegal gambling ring. It was a case the entire team's been working for a while." 

"Speaking of, where's your partner, the cutie?" Kylie straightened and scanned the room until her eyes alighted on Jake, relaxed but oddly reserved even with the drink in his hand. "Jake!" she called, waving him over.

Jake turned and looked a bit startled by Kylie's presence, but he grinned -- and Amy realized she hadn't seen him smile like that in a while, which was weird -- and came over, a beer bottle already in-hand. He grabbed a chair from another table and slid into it next to Kylie, their shoulders and knees touching. 

"Kylie, what brings you to Park Slope?" 

Kylie's expression turned sly. "The company," she retorted, voice wry. 

"Too-shay," he said, and Amy couldn't help but smile at him over-pronouncing _touché_ correctly. "Hey, what're you drinking? Let me buy you something." 

"Jameson and ginger ale," she said and winked when he looked impressed.

"So, Teddy, how was your week? What's going on at the eight-two?" Kylie glanced briefly at the bar before turning her full attention to Teddy.

"Oh, not much, We got a few robberies this week, and a grand theft auto case, but mostly it's been pawn shops and citations lately." Teddy laughed quietly and took a drink of his pilsner. "I guess even the criminals are sick of it being winter." 

Jake came back with Kylie's drink and a cocktail napkin, setting it in front of her. "For the pretty lady." 

"How sweet." She fluttered her eyelashes at him exaggeratedly. 

"I hope not, I had him use the good ginger ale." 

Kylie actually gasped. "The Boylan's stuff? They have that _here_ , seriously?" 

"Hey, Shaw's is a pretty good bar," Amy piped up. Jake and Kylie broke eye contact to look at her, and Amy suddenly felt like she'd intruded on something. 

Jake smirked. "Yes, it is, especially after _someone_ broke all of their glassware." 

Amy glared at him. "We shall never speak of that," she said in a low, threatening voice that made Jake's smile widen. 

"When did you break all of the glasses here?" Teddy looked confused, thumb tapping on the base of his tall beer glass. 

"At Thanksgiving, Amy threw a glass over her shoulder and crashed most of the bar's glassware," Kylie explained. 

"I can't believe I missed that," Jake added, shaking his head and taking a drink from his bottle. 

"You were searching for a man in a yellow sweater," Kylie retorted, grinning.

In turn, Jake beamed at Amy. "I can't believe you told her that story!" 

"I can't believe this is happening," Amy muttered. "This is my nightmare." Beside her, Teddy rubbed small circles on her back. Amy looked at him when she felt his hand, her expression softening. 

Kylie watched as Jake averted his eyes and swallowed down a long drink. "She must have been so freaked out when the shelves broke," Kylie said softly so only Jake heard.

He chuckled and tilted his beer bottle. "I would pay money to see that happen again." 

"You know what I'd play money to see?" 

"What?" 

"You in the suit she told me you wore." Kylie raised an eyebrow and gave him an expectant look. 

He searched her face for a long moment, but then they both burst into sudden laughter, startling Amy and Teddy. 

"Oh god, don't ever do that again," Jake gasped, waving a hand back and forth. "God, that was...I can't." 

Kylie giggled, pressing a hand to her mouth. "Noted," she said, and took a long drink from her glass, finishing it out. "I need a cigarette," she announced, standing and pulling out a pack and her lighter from her purse. "Anyone wanna join me?"

Amy and Teddy shook their heads, but Jake tipped his bottle up, finishing the last mouthfuls. "I don't smoke, but I could use some fresh air." He set the bottle on the table and stood, stretching his chest and shoulders subtly. 

"Then don't stand close to Kylie," Amy added, voice tinged with gentle sarcasm.

"Har, har. See if I let you bum one off me later." Kylie left Amy gaping and walked outside, Jake close behind her and snickering. 

Outside, Kylie looked both ways and walked around the corner of the bar, by the kitchen door, with Jake following close behind. They leaned against the brick wall of the building's exterior, the faint sounds of the bass from the music mingling with the clanging of the kitchen, the occasional Spanish phrase drifting through the air. Kylie lit a cigarette and took a long drag to start, tapping the ash off the tip and letting out a long, slow breath.

Beside her, Jake sighed heavily and stared at the sky. "You know, I always wondered what it would be like to grow up seeing stars," he said wistfully. 

"It's overrated," she said flatly. After a long moment, she broke the silence."You think Barley and Jimes will ever come out of retirement?" 

Jake laughed, the sudden tension in his expression dissipating. "Nah, I usually don't bring back characters. I like keeping it fresh." 

"And what kind of character is Jake Peralta?"

"Amazing detective-slash-genius," he replied immediately, grinning at her. 

"You gonna add 'walking cliche' to that description as well?" He looked confused, and Kylie arched an eyebrow. "You're half in love with her, aren't you."

His expression froze in blankness for a moment before he made a frustrated sound and pushed off the wall. "Seriously? You're not even a detective!" 

She rolled her eyes and took another drag. "Well, maybe if you were less _obvious_ about it, people wouldn't keep asking you about it." 

"Obvious?"

She shook her head and tapped off the ash. "I'm pretty sure staring at her longingly every chance you get is tipping people off." 

He swore under his breath and leaned back against the wall heavily. "It's that bad, huh?"

"You tell me." 

He was quiet for a long moment. "Yeah, I think it is." 

Inside, Teddy slid his arm around Amy's waist and pulled her, chair and all, closer so that their legs touched from knee to hip. "What do you think?"

She tilted her head, expression turning puzzled. "About what? Pilsners? Teddy, you know they all taste the same to me." 

He shook his head. "No, about Jake and Kylie. They'd make a cute couple, don't you think?"

She scrunched up her nose. "Jake? And Kylie? No, no that's crazy." 

"Think about it, they're both so outgoing, and it seems like they have a lot in common. Didn't you hear them talking? They were practically finishing each others' sentences."

Amy felt herself frowning. "Really? I guess I just don't....see it." 

He smiled indulgently at her. "Are you sure you just don't want your best friend and your partner involved like that?"

She felt herself smile broadly. "You're right, I'm probably already anticipating the drama."

"Kylie doesn't strike me as the dramatic type?" Teddy's considerable brow furrowed.

"Kylie? No, no." Amy shook her head. "I mean Jake. Kylie's way more.... _together_ than Jake is. It would drive them both crazy." 

"Ahh." Teddy nodded. "Still, you should ask her if she likes him. She might be passing on him because she thinks you'd disapprove."

"I hadn't thought of that." She laced her fingers with Teddy's under the table. "You're so smart."

"Just doin' my job, ma'am," he intoned in his best _Dragnet_ voice, pressing a kiss to her cheek and making Amy smile and blush, just as Jake and Kylie returned to the table. 

Amy still noticed Kylie press a hand against Jake's arm, and she ignored the feeling she didn't want to identify that it brought up.

**I won't be hasty, I'll give you a try**

They hung out one evening, Amy busy with Teddy and not aware that Kylie and Jake sometimes did stuff without her. 

"You ever gonna tell her?" Kylie asked point blank, blowing a stream of gray smoke into the air above them. She had a conical lowball glass in one hand, a cigarette in the other, and they were both leaning against the back wall of the deck. Jake had his arms folded across his chest, idly kicking a still-smoking filter with the toe of his Chuck Taylors. 

"Maybe," he replied, a rare moment of unclouded honesty. "Probably. Not soon." 

"You should," she said, taking another long drag, the tip glowing orange for a long moment. "She can't make a choice if she doesn't know she has one." 

"That might be the smartest thing you've said all night." He blew out a long breath and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "It would be so much easier if I were attracted to you." 

Kylie laughed and dropped her cigarette, stubbing out the filter under her shoe. "Please. You couldn't handle me." She raised her glass in his direction expectantly. He picked up his beer bottle and tapped the neck against the lip of her glass. "To courage," she said, expression oddly subdued.

"Liquid or otherwise," he added. 

**you gotta get with my friends**

Amy had never been good at subtle (or lying) both of which Kylie knew, so she simply waited for a lull in the conversation to ask the question she'd been turning over in her head for days. "Is there something going on between you and Jake?" 

Kylie had her glass of merlot to her lips, but she set it down and wiped away the imprint of her lipstick with the pad of her thumb. "Why do you ask?"

Amy knew this was a stall tactic, but she played along. "Well, you two have been hanging out a lot lately, and it seems like your Facebook and Instagram have more pics of him than of us." 

"You've been busy with your hunka burnin' love, though." 

Amy wrinkled her nose. "Ew, don't call him that."

"Aimes, he goes by _Teddy_. That's a stuffed animal name. Literally." 

"C'mon, Kylie!" She was laughing in spite of herself.

"What? It's true." Kylie swirled her wine glass, the wine sloshing against the sides. "Would it bother you if there were? Something between me and Jake?" 

"No." She replied immediately, then paused. "Yes, actually." 

"Why?" Kylie's light eyes and round face were usually an open book to Amy. They had known each other long enough that Amy figured they didn't have any secrets left. Apparently she'd been wrong, because right then she couldn't puzzle out Kylie's expression for the life of her. 

Amy stared into her sauvignon blanc, the wine bar's muted lighting glowing in the depth of the glass. She rotated her wrist and watched the light in the glass change. "I don't know." 

"I think you do." Kylie set her glass down on the cocktail napkin and sat up straight, looking Amy in the eye. "And I think you're gonna have to deal with that sooner or later." 

"So you're _not_ involved with him?" 

"I didn't say that." Kylie's expression turned carefully blank, the lines of her face smoothing out. Amy felt suddenly unnerved, seeing her interrogation expression directed back at herself. 

"So are you or aren't you?" 

Kylie shrugged. "He's a good guy, he's fun, and he makes me laugh. I could see it happening." 

Amy felt simultaneously relieved and as though the rug was being gradually pulled out from under her. "That's not usually your style."

"Yeah, well." She shrugged and ran a hand through her wavy hair. "I'm trying something different with this one. He's not like the others, so I gotta approach him differently." She took a long sip of her wine, watching Amy over the rim. "If it isn't me, it'll be someone else," she added quietly. "You need to make up your mind, babe." 

They sat in silence for a long moment, fiddling with the stems of their glasses. 

"When did you get so wise?" Amy asked, a smile spreading across her features. 

"Somewhere between five and seven," Kylie returned smirking. She tipped back the last of her merlot and stood. "I need a cigarette and you need to tell me more about this guy with the bag of ears on the subway." She shuddered. "I'll never ride the R ever again."

**make it last forever**

"Let me get this straight," Kylie said, sitting up and leaning forward. Amy tamped down her immediate desire to recoil. She set her wineglass on a coaster on a doily, Amy's coffee table cleared of everything but a magnum of red wine and a cutting board of cheese -- both things Kylie had brought with her. In turn, Amy had supplied the pajamas once more.

"By all means, make me tell the story _again_ ," Amy grumbled, curling into the corner of her sofa. 

"Shut up, copper." Kylie stuck her tongue out at Amy. "So, Jake, _your partner_ , told you he…."

"He wished something could have happened between us, yeah." She took a long drink of her wine.

"And you weren't expecting it at all?" 

"What? No!" Amy shot her a look. "I thought he wanted to date _you!_ "

Kylie doubled over, laughing so hard she had to take gasping breaths, her face turning bright red as she choked out long, loud guffaws. 

Amy frowned. "I don't see what's so funny." 

Her friend wiped away tears from her eyes and took a few deep, calming breaths before sitting up and folding her legs so that she was cross-legged and leaning against the arm of the sofa. "Amy. We get along, but he's only really friends with me because he likes _you_."

"How does that even make sense?"

"I'm your _best friend_. Would you really be with someone I didn't approve of?"

"Probably not," Amy mumbled into her wine glass, deciding she needed to be drunker for this to make sense. 

Kylie grinned and leaned back. "Anyway, go Peralta. I didn't think he'd ever man up and tell you." 

"You _knew?!_ For how long!" Amy shot her a dark look.

"Does it matter?" Kylie leveled a flat stare at her. "It wasn't my secret to tell. Would you want me telling him about that time you drunkenly told me you thought he was kinda hot sometimes?" 

"No," Amy grumbled.

"Amy. _Amy_." Kylie reached forward and touched Amy's arm. " I'm pretty sure he's in love with you." 

"Well it doesn't matter now, does it? I have Teddy, and Jake's completely gone for six months. It doesn't make a difference." 

"But I thought you liked him too...?"

"I don't know what I feel for Jake. I'd never thought of him like that before."

"And now?"

"Now...I miss my partner." 

"Oh." Kylie curled into Amy's side. "You're really worried about him, huh?" 

"He's my _partner_ , Kylie. That means something." 

Kylie studied her face for a long moment. "I know, babe. I just hope he knows that too." 

Amy put her arm around Kylie and stared into her wineglass, the way they had always done when one of them was feeling unhappy, ever since college. "Yeah," she said quietly, and swirled the glass slowly. 

"So....where's Teddy?" 

She smiled into her glass. "I told him I was gonna hang with you, so he's off drinking with his unit." 

"That's hilarious," Kylie said, voice wry. "How long have you guys been dating?"

"Like a month." 

"And?"

"And what?"

Kylie's eyes shone. "Tell me everything. C'mon. I know you." She poked Amy in the side, in the single spot between her ribs where she was ticklish.

"Kylie! Stop that!" She batted her friend's hands away. "Okay, okay. It's good. We get along well and I like being with him. It's comfortable. I like him a lot." 

"Okay. I still don't think he's good enough for you."

"You don't think _anyone_ is good enough for me. You're worse than my brothers." 

"That's why they like me so much."

* * *

Four months later, Amy slowly typed out a message.

_I think I need to break up with Teddy._

Amy sent the text to Kylie and counted her heartbeats until she heard her phone ring.

"WHAT." 

Amy winced and held the phone away from her ear. "First, ow? Second, yeah." 

"I'm coming over. Open up that bottle of pinot gris I left at your place when you went to the Berkshires. I hid it behind that giant bag of rice you've never opened." 

"You seriously know me too well," Amy muttered, doing as she was commanded. "See you in a few." 

Fifteen minutes later, a panting, slightly frazzled-looking Kylie was at Amy's door, toeing off her shoes and pulling off her jacket. 

"Did you....run here?" 

"Duh," Kylie said, retying her ponytail. "The F is running on a Sunday schedule today for no good reason."

"It's Flag Day," Amy offered mildly.

"No one cares about banners! And what the hell, you're gonna break up with Teddy? What happened to him making you happy?!" 

"Things changed."

"No _shit_ they did." Kylie rolled her eyes and flopped on Amy's couch. "Jesus, Aimes, you were just telling me two days ago that things were going well. I don't understand what happened." 

" _Nothing_ happened."

Kylie waited for a long moment. "You're gonna have to do better than that. What, did the sex start to suck? Is he into weird kinky shit? Is he _not_ into weird kinky shit? I figured two cops would at _least_ be into handcuffs." 

"Kylie!" She threw a pillow at her best friend, who simply caught it and laughed at her. "No, nothing like that. We just…..ran out of stuff to talk about."

"How?" Kylie reached over and picked up one of the wine glasses Amy had set out in anticipation of Kylie's arrival. 

"Just lately, we'll go out to dinner and the conversation will fade out and it doesn't feel as easy as it used to." She grabbed the pillow out of Kylie's lap and hugged it to her abdomen. 

"Have you talked about it with Teddy?" 

Amy shook her head. "Not yet. I didn't know how to bring it up." 

"You know you have to talk about it with him before you break up with him." Kylie rotated her wrist, watching the wine angle towards the lip of the glass. "A relationship is work," she said, voice quieter. "It means finding things to talk about even when it doesn't seem like anything new has happened." 

Amy tilted her head back into the sofa cushion. "How do you know if he's the right guy?" 

"My mother would say that if you're asking that question, he isn't." Kylie sat up straight. "But are we still talking about Teddy?" Her mouth flattened into a line. "I'm gonna be direct: you shouldn't break up with Teddy because of any _what if_ with Jake." 

Amy rolled her shoulders and picked at invisible lint and fabric pills on the pillow. "That's not what this is. Teddy and I only started feeling distant in the last month or so, and Jake isn't allowed to contact us for at least another six weeks." 

"As long as you're considering this because of you and Teddy, and not because of the glimmer of possibility of another guy." 

Amy drew an X over her heart, the way they'd used to do in college. "Jake has nothing to do with this." 

"Ok. That's all I needed to hear. Now, Amy?"

"Yeah?"

Kylie grabbed Amy's cell off the coffee table and pulled up Teddy's number. "Call him. Meet with him. Talk this out. If you break up, it's better you get it over with now, 'cause it'll only be harder and more painful for both of you later."

Amy groaned and took the phone from her. "I hate it when you're right."

"I love you, too. Now call your boyfriend."

* * *

Amy was curled up on her couch reading a trashy paperback mystery when her cell rang, the caller ID displaying Kylie's Facebook picture. "Hey, what's up?" 

"Are you at home right now?" Kylie asked abruptly, breathless and loud. 

"Uh, yeah, I'm just reading. Is something wrong?"

"No!" Kylie shouted. "No," she repeated, in more modulated tones. "Nothing is wrong. Your buzzer will ring in about 15 seconds. Let me up." 

Amy pulled the phone away and gave the screen a confused look. "Uh, Kylie, are you sure you're--" The door buzzer sounded, causing her to jump. 

"That's me!" Kylie near-shouted. "Buzz me up."

"Sheesh, ok, fine, god, but I'm not changing out of my pajamas for you."

Kylie laughed. "Oh man, you're gonna wish you had."

"Ugh, Kylie, did you bring a singing telegram guy again?" A knock sounded on her door, and Amy looked down at herself, taking stock of herself: sweatpants with RUTGERS spelled out down the length of one leg, gray and navy NYPD t-shirt, hair loose around her shoulders. "One sec," she grumbled and pulled on the plaid flannel robe she'd been using as a blanket. 

"Hurry up, c'mon c'mon." Kylie's voice chimed in her ear.

"It's amazing you can be so loud but your voice won't carry through the door."

"I am a woman of many talents," Kylie replied sarcastically.

"If only you used your talents for good," Amy shot back, undoing her locks. "Seriously, Kylie, if this is a singing telegram again, I swear I'll--" When she opened the door, however, instead of Kylie standing there, it was Jake, looking painfully normal in a plain white t-shirt and dark wash jeans. "Jake." 

"Never say I've never done anything for you," Kylie shouted, her voice in the phone speaker sounding tinny in the silence of Amy's hallway. "You two kids have fun! Bye!" Amy's phone beeped to indicate Kylie had hung up, but she couldn't stop staring at Jake. He looked a little thinner, and a little tanned, with a new but fading scar at the corner of his mouth. His expression was nervous. 

"Heeey….Kylie thought I should surprise you and she said she'd make the connect--uh, I mean, she'd make it work out." She continued to stare at him and he fidgeted nervously and then resorted to babbling. "Your friend is super loud, by the way. When I told her I wanted to surprise you, she started screaming and I think I might be half-deaf in my one good ear now, which is probably your fault somehow--"

"Stop talking," she said at last, shaking her head, mouth turning down at the corners. He obeyed, mouth closing with an audible _click_ , expression turning scared and expectant. Before she could overthink it, she reached out and pulled him in for a hug, pressing her forehead into his shoulder and her arms around his waist.. "I missed you," she said, voice muffled. 

"I missed you, too," he said, voice low and quiet, and returned the hug, one arm going around her shoulders, the other hand cradling the back of her head. She felt him press his cheek against her crown, and she sighed. 

They stood there like that for a long time, until she heard his heart slow and felt the last of the tension drain out of his shoulders.

* * *

She pulled him into her apartment the same way she'd always pulled him out of Holt's office -- fingers wrapped around his forearm.

* * *

Kylie's phone chimed with a text from Amy. _You're the best bestie ever._

She smiled and typed back a response. _Margaritas on Tuesday. I want every detail._

_Love you xoxo_

_♥ you too~_

**Author's Note:**

> 0\. So much love to **dhara** for the beta and the edits and the squee and the workshopping. I needed it, and I love you for not holding back the floodgates at all. You're the best. ♥
> 
> 1\. So the dress Amy is wearing in the first section is [this one](http://i.imgur.com/18xN2YL.jpg). It's apparently gold-er in real life? Whatever, it's sparkly and it's good for "da club," as it were. 
> 
> 2\. Speaking of, the bar/club they go to is based on two bars in Brooklyn I've been to and liked: [The Woods](https://foursquare.com/v/the-woods-brooklyn-ny/4ac6bb7ff964a52014b620e3), on the south end of Williamsburg, and [Union Pool](https://foursquare.com/v/union-pool/3fd66200f964a520c5f01ee3), towards East Williamsburg. The deck and dance floor are from The Woods, the taco truck and large "backyard" are Union Pool. Also, the G train is the only one in Greenpoint, really, and I'm keeping Amy's apartment in Fort Greene until proven otherwise. 
> 
> 3\. I wanted to portray, as honestly as possible, an adult female friendship. To that end, I took broad strokes from my own friendships and occasionally played with which one of us was Kylie or Amy at any given time. Obviously, we don't know much of anything about Kylie save her name, but I wanted to write someone who brings out the best in Amy. I also wanted Kylie to feel more like an objectively natural fit for Jake, in order to provide a little narrative tension, but without that compromising their friendship or turning catty. And yes, adult female friendships involve a lot of wine. 
> 
> 4\. So....[death of the author](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeathOfTheAuthor), etc., but after she pulls him into her apartment, I see them watching _Die Hard_ and falling asleep on her sofa curled up in the corner, maybe [kind of like this](http://i.imgur.com/6vWqhr2.png). (Also I didn't mean to give him _that exact outfit_ but apparently I did! Oops.) Either way, they just...confirm Jake's alive. Obviously, if you want more than that to happen, so be it, that's all you. 
> 
> 5\. This is my 100th fic on AO3. :) I can't believe it.


End file.
